Formerly warrior Princess Koriand'r of the now-destroyed planet Tamaran, Starfire found a new home on Earth, and a new family in the Teen Titans. She has also served with the Outsiders, Justice League, R.E.B.E.L.S. and is currently associated with the Outlaws.

It's a 7 year old girl (who has seen the Teen Titans show, read the Teen Titans books, and loves Starfire)'s opinion of the new Starfire (with a heavy dose of parental discretion with things regards to all the casual sex she has now).

I know a lot of people would get dismissive of the original post because of the age and gender of the critic (7 year old girls are widely conceived of as being fickle, and like things based on things like bright colors or ponies). But some things this kid said, struck a chord with me.

“Is this new Starfire someone you’d want to be when you grow up?”*she gets uncomfortable again*”Not really. I mean, grown ups can wear what they want, but…she’s not doing anything but wearing a tiny bikini to get attention.”

and

"I want her to be a hero, fighting things and be strong and helping people.""Why's that?""Because she's what inspires me to be good."

It seems like this little girl sums up a lot of readers' apprehensions about the"grittier" directions comics are taking, and the idea that characters need to be shocking, and sexy and whatnot. In all honesty, it's the reason comics still resonate with me. Because of the escapism sure; but it's all based around heroes. Heroes inspire us to be better, and I want to see them standing up for what's right… because that doesn't always happen in the real world. Not everyone needs to be dark, brooding, and/or gritty. Or as I like to call it, the Batmanificaiton of characters. And not everyone needs to be an unattached, disinterested emo/hipster/douche.

Tell me what you think below. Do you agree with at least one 7 year old girl? Do you think the little girl sounds like a grumpy old fart scared of change? Is it all just moot because standing around talking will only be a problem for the first couple of issues before the story gets rolling? Leave a comment and tell me.

I'm not opposed to fanservice, especially in Star's case, and the whole idea behind the Outlaws is to provide a DC crime fighter team who basically fills the same niche as Marvel's Punisher, anti-hero protagonists who finish off the bad guys so they can't break out of DC's latest super jail and wreak havoc all over again. Its a story concept that has potential and I was very interested in it....HOWEVER, I gotta agree with the kid that based on what I've heard about the rebooted Starfire so far she doesn't seem to be as interesting as the previous Starfire or her cartoon counterpart. Star might be promiscuous, but she's not supposed to jump into bed with everyone she meets, and the idea of her forgetting about past friends and loved ones who meant everything to her before & becoming all cold and unattached just goes against who she's supposed to be (I'd rather see her struggle with the knowledge that her friends now view her as a vigilante & finding the strength to continue down the path she's chosen). Fanservice is fine, but if Starfire is gonna be a main character and the super powered muscle of the Outlaws then she needs to have her fair share of serious moments and character development...Oh, and Roy and Jason come off as pretty sleazy for sleeping with an old friend/teammate whom they know is not currently herself >_<

If Starfire was gonna be portrayed as a vigilante anti-hero rather than a Titan or Justice Leaguer again, then there had to be a better way of going about it than making her a forgetful man-eater right? Why not give a logical explanation for her decision to join the Outlaws and change her way of thinking in regards to how to properly fight crime? Hope that makes sense ):

There should be some comics made specifically for kids, and some comics made for adults. There's no reason that the Teen Titans TV show couldn't have had a comic book tie-in. They do it with movies all the time. It would be an alternate universe for aimed at a younger audience. Clearly DC decided Red Hood and the Outlaws weren't going to be for kids, so there's no surprise that a kid doesn't like it. Her parents shouldn't have let her read it. Besides a 7-year old probably isn't financing their own comic collection; so no money means your opinion matters less.

@Sinestro2828: Exactly. Star's strengths came from her emotions and her attachments to her friends. By making her this detached, indifferent character Scott essentially took a character that wasn't the most 3-dimensional one out there, and made her essentially 1-dimensional.

Yeah well I'm a 14 year old boy, that means I am twice that girls age.. I think... (7 + 7 = 14.. knew it) and I want boobs and booty so like.. woah, wait she is a girl? Well there's your problem right there. Point her to the Barbie and Dora comics. Next thing you know she'll be whining about Kick A%$. Okay time to go steal some cigs and cry in the closet about something.

@SC: I'm not sure if you're serious or kidding about your age and/or opinions on boobs/butts. Either way, if you want to know my opinion on how fanservice and sex should be handled in comics, I wrote a blog about the scene at the end of Catwoman #1. This post was more about Starfire herself than sexiness in comics.

@Fantasgasmic: Thats a great blog, I will post there later, very nice. Oh and yes, I was joking. If I was an actual 14 year old boy, I'd be trying to steal weed and referencing something other than Dora... unless Dora is still on TV... *shrugs*

@GraveSp: I assume by "the 80's" you mean 83/84 when Crisis on Infinite Earths and Secret Wars happened. In which case I would say that nobody here was reading comics when they were "for kids." Which I would say is reason enough to prove that argument wrong.

Also, it's kinda sad to me that you think being "good" and being "for kids" have to be discrete (not to be confused with discreet)

@Fantasgasmic: actually I was more thinking 86 with the Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. Although if you look back at the 70's with Snowbirds Don't Fly it wasn't appropriate for children. Honestly most of the comics that I like best the ones that I reread constantly I would not consider appropriate for kids, even if they are not super violent or sexual. I love Neil Gaiman's Sandman but I would not consider it an appropriate book for children just because it deals with concepts that they do not have enough exposure to and literary elements that they are not familiar with plus they would probably not know how to deal with it. And honestly I wasn't reading comics when I was a kid but when I go back and read comics that are more targeted "for kids" they ring false to me. "For kids" comics usually portray the world in a way which is almost nothing like ours, and for me a "good" comic is one that I can point to and say "I liked the exploration of that theme, because it is a theme that I see in the real life and it is something I have thought about."

@Fantasgasmic: Agreed, Starfire was always a team player, and I was honestly interested in seeing how she'd interact with Jason and Roy as teammates, I figured she'd be the one who kept the two of them from giving in to their more self-destructive tendencies and help them fulfill their goals without changing from anti-heroes into psychotic ex-sidekick supervillains, basically give them the same emotional support she always gave her old teammates. Also, I figured an important aspect of Starfire becoming a vigilante would be her having to face her old friends from the Teen Titans, Outsiders, Justice League, R.E.B.E.L.S. etc...Basically finding the strength to follow her new idea of justice despite what her former comrades might think of her for it (Heck, maybe some would have secretly supported her). Hell, giving Nightwing the final brush off after whenever he finally gets involved would have been cool too, but not if she doesn't remember him (their romance and breakup is the stuff of legends in DC, ya can't just white wash all of that). But now...It seems like she's forgotten about all of that, and her personality has taken a 180 as well...I can't picture all Tamarans having the memory span of a goldfish like that after years of seeing them perfectly able to remember and befriend people of other species without difficulty, and the concept of love, true love, was a VERY real and serious thing in their culture despite the idea of casual sex being acceptable as well.

Basically, Starfire could be alot more interesting if portrayed properly and treated seriously like Jason and Roy, ya can still have the fanservice by all means, but ya gotta give her personality and character drama and development too

Well... for me at age of 7 to 10 I thought that Wonder Woman and others heroines (specially Power Girl or whatever her name is) were dressed like a bunch of bitches. And I thought this about "Uhh. They are got heroines soooo stereotyped (I always have hated stereotypes) like "sexy" (please just see their's costumes cleavage and please they use spandex) woman" But like I have spent more time with boys than with girls (Yeah I'm a girl or What were u thinking?!?) and get to the conclusion that: The bassic stereotypes says that boys read comics (F*** u stereotypes) and girl romance novels (Not my favs.unless they were between superheroes) so that's why they do women in comics look "sexy". Normal Thing.... but now.... PLEASE that is sooo much they are passing to another extreme of had "sexy" women to get SOFTPORN. There isn't another word of this... and i were waiting something cool about this series but now ...